The New York Yankees of the

third American Football League The American Football League, also known retrospectively as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name, was a professional American football league that operated from 1940–1941. It was created when three teams, the o ...

was the third professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

of the first AFL (and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

), the

of the second AFL, and the (later)

of the All-America Football Conference. The Yankees played their home games in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

and

Downing Stadium Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks a ...

in New York, New York. After finishing fourth in the AFL’s season of 1940, the Yankees were sold to agent and promoter

Douglas Hertz Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

. By the summer of 1941, the team’s AFL franchise was revoked in light of a scandal involving the new owner, and a group headed by William Cox assumed control of the team by the beginning of the new season. The newly renamed New York Americans were competitive, finishing one-half game behind league champions

Columbus Bullies The Columbus Bullies were a professional football team founded by Phil H. Bucklew in Columbus, Ohio in 1938. The Bullies started out as a member of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1939. Later, in 1940, the Bullies joined ...

. While the Americans were making plans for a 1942 AFL season, the league suspended operations in the wake of the entry of the United States into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and the Americans followed suit. The league did not return to business after the end of the war, and neither did the New York Americans.

1940 New York Yankees

The Yankees were one of three charter members of the third AFL (along with the Boston Bears and

Buffalo Indians The Buffalo Indians were a professional American football team that competed in the third American Football League in 1940 and in 1941. The team played its home games in Civic Stadium in Buffalo, New York. Owned by the Buffalo American Legion, ...

) that were formed with the expressed purpose of competing in a major professional football league to compete with the established National Football League. The new league became official after the Cincinnati Bengals,

and a newly minted Milwaukee Chiefs defected from the American Professional Football Association. The roster for the 1940 season had five players who competed in the NFL in 1939. Head coach

Jack McBride John F. McBride (November 30, 1901–October 11, 1966) was an American football player who played the positions of halfback, fullback, and quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He was born in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. McBride pla ...

was also the coach of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

of the second American Football League (1936–1937).

1941 New York Americans

In January 1941, the Yankees were sold to agent and promoter

. After questions arose about the finances of the new owner arose, the AFL revoked the franchise and transferred ownership to a syndicate headed by William Cox (later the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team) in August. Shortly afterward, the team’s name was changed to the New York Americans. Unlike the 1940 Yankees, the Americans had a flair for publicity, having signed college star running back

John Kimbrough John Alec Kimbrough (June 14, 1918 – May 8, 2006) was a college athlete, a member of the Texas Legislature, the star of two western movies and a rancher. His older brother Frank Kimbrough served as head football coach at Baylor and West Texa ...

for $37,500 on a

personal services contract Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...

that required personal appearances on behalf of the team. Well into the season, the Americans announced the signing of Heisman Trophy winner

Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), known as Tom Harmon, as well as by the nickname "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon grew up in Gary, Indiana, and playe ...

(who had begun a career in

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

football games) for the game between the Americans and league leader Columbus. Harmon threw two

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s while Hutchinson was similarly ineffective. In the second half, the New York fans shouted “We want

ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

/nowiki> Hutchinson,” the Americans’ regular rusher. The game ended in a 0–0 tie. A loss to the Milwaukee Chiefs the following week (the last game of the season) cost the Americans the AFL championship.

1941 New York Yankees

The 1941 New York Yankees, the fourth New York professional football team with the name, was a team formed and owned by

after the

revoked his ownership of a franchise that was later renamed the New York Americans in August 1941. Initially an independent team, the Yankees joined the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

in October to replace the Providence Steamroller, which dropped out of the league after only two games. Having four members of the 1940 Yankees, the 1941 edition lost all six of its American Association games (as a

traveling team Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

) and folded soon afterward.Nothing Minor About It: The American Association/AFL of 1936-50
– Bob Gill, Professional Football Researchers Association (1990) Note: won-lost record includes American Association league games only

References

Defunct American football teams in New York City American football teams in New York City American Football League (1940) teams American football teams established in 1940 1940 establishments in New York (state) Sports clubs disestablished in 1941 1941 disestablishments in New York (state) {{AFL III